In existing delivery services, a recipient of a shipment is not always aware when a shipment is being sent to the recipient. In this regard, a sender does not always inform the recipient when sending a shipment to the recipient via a delivery service. Furthermore, the operator of the delivery service usually does not provide the recipient with advanced notice of the package. Therefore, the recipient is often not aware that a shipment has been sent to the recipient until the package is actually delivered to the recipient.
In some situations, the sender may notify the recipient that the sender is sending a shipment to the recipient. However, the sender may not know or may not provide to the recipient an approximate date or time on which the shipment should arrive. Therefore, the recipient is aware that a shipment has been sent but is not aware of when the shipment should arrive.
Furthermore, even with existing shipment tracking systems, the recipient is not usually aware of the precise time that the shipment will be delivered. For example, when a shipment is scheduled to be delivered on a particular day, the shipment may arrive at any time on that date, the actual time of delivery being dependant on the route and the number and length of stops made by the delivery vehicle on the way to the recipient.
In various industries, such as the furniture industry, deliveries may not be made if the delivery service is unable to enter the premises at which the furniture is to be delivered. As a result, the delivery service either has to reschedule the delivery for another time, which is cost prohibitive and cumbersome, or wait until the recipient provides access to the premises. The additional wait delays the delivery of subsequent shipments and the delay is compounded if the delivery vehicle has to wait at multiple destinations to deliver the furniture.
Similar problems arise in other situations that require a recipient to be present at the place of service at the time of service. In particular, a service technician who services a customer's equipment at a customer's place of business or residence can experience similar delays if the customer is not present at the time the service technician arrives at the destination.
Accordingly, there is a need for a notification system and method that can notify a recipient ahead of time of the arrival of a vehicle.